C.S. Gibson
http://growingthebeard.wordpress.com
Twitter: @MUSTACHIOSAURUS
Facebook: corwinscottgibson
Corwin Scott Gibson is a writer and artist based out of Flagstaff, Arizona. Aside from Murdertrain, he’s self-published three minicomics and garnered a cult following for his webcomic, Galaxy of the Damned. He currently attends Northern Arizona University, where he works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and is working on his MA in Creative Writing. In his short-ass life, he’s worked as a teacher, a groundskeeper, a comic shop flunkie, copy shop goon, and editorial intern. In his spare time he dabbles in voice acting. Corwin hopes to one day go to space.
Chapter 20
I’m driving up the coast on Maui. It’s been a week or so after getting out of the hospital. I’m driving a pretty nice Dart Swinger I bought used on the big island with some money from Kim. He’s been pretty gracious about how I set him up. Everything moves pretty smoothly on his end. The Japs are off licking their wounds and rethinking their Hawaii strategy, and Kim’s pretty much taken over everything Chin used to run. Now it’s just Koreans instead of Chinamen. He’s sitting pretty now. He even put me on the payroll to do pretty much whatever I want, which, right now, is nothing. I’ve been beating people senseless for most of my life, it’s time to take a vacation. After that, I’m not totally sure.
Chapter 19
I swing one hand and knock him off my chest and into the damp sand next to me, closer to the rising tide. I take a long breath and feel my chest pound. My knees snap and crackle as slowly I get back on my feet. I feel clumps of sand sticking to all of my wounds. I feel the cleaver in my back pocket, but I can’t use it. Not on him.
Chapter 18
I throw one sword like a javelin at Donnie, grazing his right ear and cheek. He sees me, and his face contorts into an ugly mix of rage and confusion. He swings the gun on its mount and begins firing at me, but by now I’m too close to him. I grab a ninja and throw the guy at the gun, knocking Donnie over and stopping the gunfire. For the brief moment I have, I leap up onto the railing and climb over, onto the deck. As my feet hit the wooden boards below them, Donnie is already back up with his Magnum ready. The remaining Yakuza suits are already making their getaway out the back of the house. I don’t care about them.
Chapter 17
My ears ring and I feel warm blood start to trickle down my neck and parts of my back. I lift my face and look in Eddie’s direction, and he’s already up on the corner of the deck unloading shells through the big window into the guy that was aiming his gun at Alison, but it doesn’t quite register. My head is just a big, empty cavity, and nothing makes any sense. I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment.
Chapter 16
Eddie turns off the motor and eases the boat around a cove, letting momentum and the tide land us on beach under the cover of palm trees. We each grab a duffel and slink out, running into the trees. Mitchell hands Eddie the second shotgun while I grab my kitchen tools and a couple of hand grenades, which I clip onto a bundle of rope I have slung over my shoulder. We’re all dressed in black, like a bunch of spies or some shit, with knit caps and thin sweaters. The cap itches my scalp, and while I scratch around my fingers notice how thick my beard has grown already. I’m like a goddamned G.I. Joe doll.
